War of words escalates in Williams’ engagement ring suit

Former Texan Mario Williams is involved with a legal dispute with his former girlfriend. (Nick de la Torre/Houston Chronicle)

The attorney representing Mario Williams’ ex-fiancée in a lawsuit filed by the former Texans defensive lineman said Monday that the suit is frivolous and without merit and that Williams has inaccurately portrayed his client as a “charlatan golddigger.”

Attorneys for Williams, who now plays for the Buffalo Bills, filed suit last week in Harris County state district court against Erin Marzouki, who is described as Williams’ former fiancée. The suit seeks recovery of a 10.04 carat diamond ring from Marzouki in the wake of what Williams’ attorneys, Monica Schulz Orlando and Michael Gary Orlando, describe as her decision in January to end her engagement.

However, attorney Tony Buzbee, who is representing Marzouki, said he will prove during a Friday court hearing at which Williams has been subpoenaed to attend that the lineman’s lawsuit is a “silly exercise” based on misrepresentations and falsehoods.

“This is a stupid lawsuit because it has no legal merit, and it’s a stupid lawsuit because it’s not going to be good for his career,” Buzbee said. “(Williams) is a victim of his emotions and of bad legal advice. What he’s done is kick an anthill, and you know what happens when you kick an anthill.”

In his response to the lawsuit, which will be heard before 80th state District Judge Larry Weiman, Buzbee said Williams and Marzouki, a former Texans employee, dated 4½ years before becoming engaged and that Williams broke off the engagement at least five times.

He said Williams told Marzouki on several occasions that she could keep the engagement ring, most recently after he broke off the engagement for the final time. That allegation will be proved, he said, by several exchanges documented in what he said were about 200 pages of text messages between Williams and Marzouki.

One message, which Buzbee displayed to a reporter on Monday, included what was purported to be Williams’ comment “KEEP IT.” Another message read, “Keep those material things. It means nothing to me any more.”

“It appeared to Marzouki that a part of Williams wanted to be married and start a family, while another part of Williams wanted to continue to live the life of a wealthy bachelor who could do whatever he wanted, with whomever he wanted, whenever he wanted,” Buzbee’s response said.

He also said Williams lied when he said in the suit that he gave Marzouki an American Express card on which she charged $108,000 in personal expenses. Most of those expenses, Buzbee said, were for expenses at Williams’ homes.

“He has painted a picture of her as a charlatan golddigger, which is about as far from the truth as it possibly could be,” Buzbee said.

Williams’ attorneys have not responded to several calls seeking comment on the suit and on Buzbee’s response.In this case, Buzbee said, “(Williams) is going to publicly apologize to (Marzouki). He’s going to drop this stupid lawsuit.”

The engagement ring, which according to the lawsuit is worth $785,000, is in a safe deposit box, Buzbee said.